Building Organizational Commitment in Nested Groups: Theory and New Evidence from South Korea

Abstract

We investigate team commitment as a nested group phenomenon and examine perceived organizational support as a mechanism through which nested team commitment is generalized to the larger organizational unit. We theorize that employees develop nested team commitments by attributing positive emotions (e.g., job satisfaction) to teams more than to the larger organization. At issue with nested teams is how to mobilize local commitments to the larger organization and thereby coordinate and integrate inter-team activities at the organizational level. We propose perceived organizational support as a solution, which operates as a re-categorization mechanism to help employees expand their nested group boundary to include the larger organization. We derive two main effect hypotheses and two moderation effect hypotheses. These hypotheses are tested using data from 768 employees of a large Korean organization. The results provide support for three of the four hypotheses.

Notes

¹ Blau (1977) indicated that crosscutting memberships such as occupations and organizations foster more contact among members in different organizational or occupational categories and thereby helps integrate the separate units.

² The teams in this study are “real” in the sense that they work together and interdependently to accomplish joint tasks. Further, the company emphasizes the importance of teamwork, provides relevant material and symbolic support, and has practices in place to fairly evaluate and compensate the teams. In this context levels of organizational support should strongly impact teamwork.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Korean National Research Foundation Grant (NRF-2012-S1A3A2033902).

Notes on contributors

Shane R. Thye

Shane R. Thye is a professor of sociology at the University of South Carolina. He is the series coeditor (with Professor Ed Lawler) of Advances in Group Processes. He recently completed a book (with Professors Lawler and Yoon) on Social Commitments in a Depersonalized World and works primarily in the areas of group dynamics and experimental sociology. Professor Thye is currently conducting research on status processes in bargaining relations, micro social order in open interaction groups, and economic models of discrimination. His work has appeared in the American Sociological Review, the American Journal of Sociology, and Social Forces. His research has been generously funded by the National Science Foundation over the past two decades.

Jeongkoo Yoon

Jeongkoo Yoon is a professor in the School of Business Administration at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea. His research focuses on power and exchange theories, with particular application to empowerment, leadership, and organizational change. His recent projects examine how group emotions in work team settings affect team performance and transformation.